


Their Tangled Web

by CaptainMinette



Category: The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional Roller Coaster, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-07-14 13:18:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7173440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainMinette/pseuds/CaptainMinette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edward is caught in the crossfire between his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Eleanor and his new sweetheart Elizabeth.<br/>Edmund is recovering from a car accident that killed his father, and learning to navigate a budding relationship with his friend Rob, the other survivor.<br/>George is in over his head with the younger Isabel Neville, and a newfound fondness for drink after his father's fatal accident.<br/>And Dickon is having girl troubles far too soon, when his crush starts sitting with the cool kids because Edward Lancaster fancies her now.<br/>All in all, it's quite a tangled web the four Sons of York weave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awakening

** EDMUND **

When he opened his eyes, it was to the lights of a hospital room and the fretful and bruised face of his best friend, Rob Apsall. Everything was a little blurry, but he figured it would clear up shortly:

“Oh, thank God you're awake, Edmund!”

“Hi, Rob,” he croaked faintly. They'd just managed that morning to wean him off of the ventilator, Rob knew, and it was amazing that he could even speak at all.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I've been run over by a fucking ten-ton train.”

Rob laughed, even with tears standing in his eyes:

“No surprises there.”

Rob was the one least injured in a crash that had killed Richard York Sr., the patriarch of the York family, critically injured Edmund, the family's second-eldest son, and left the city in sociopolitical upheaval.

Edmund took a deep breath and groaned as it strained his injured ribs:

“Ah, shit! There's – there's got to be something they can do for this pain, Rob.”

“I'll go talk to the nurse,” Rob murmured, stroking the back of his friend's hand with his thumb and pressing a kiss to his knuckles, before standing to exit the room.

_That's strange,_ Edmund thought through the fog of pain and exhaustion, _he's never done anything like that before. Maybe he... no, don't kid yourself. There's no way._

Rob returned shortly with a nurse in tow, a shy and mousy-looking young woman only perhaps a few years older than the boys themselves, and she immediately began asking questions so fast Edmund's head started to spin. He squeezed his eyes shut, lifting his good hand to pinch the bridge of his nose:

“Hold on,” he muttered, “can you please ask the questions one at a time?”

Rob chuckled, and the nurse half-snorted and half-laughed:

“Yeah, kid. How are you feeling?”

“Alive. Hurting all over. The first one's good, the second not so much.”

“I figured. What's your pain like, on a scale of 1 to 10?”

“Probably about an 8,” he managed, wheezing a little.

“Ouch,” she winced sympathetically, “I'll definitely see what we can do for that.”

He gave her a wan, grateful smile as she turned and left the room.

Rob had resumed his place by the bedside, gripping Edmund's hand as if he meant never to let go:

“Do you even know how badly you scared me, Edmund? I thought you were going to die!”

Edmund had the sense to respond with a sheepish look:

“Sorry, Rob. I didn't realize you'd been so afraid.”

“Of course I was afraid, Edmund! I lo – er, I care very much about your well-being!”

_Did he just almost say he... loves me? Must be my imagination, though._

“I – care very much about your well-being as well, Rob. I'm glad you're alright.”

The other boy flushed a dark red from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. They sat in a vaguely uncomfortable silence for several moments. Finally, Rob cleared his throat and spoke up:

“Please... don't tell anyone about what you might have heard me almost say.”

Edmund, who had almost managed to doze off, jolted awake:

“Wait, what? Did you actually – ?”

“Almost say I love you? Yeah. Yeah, I did, because I do, Edmund. I love you, so much that I don't even know what I would have done if you had died in that crash.”

Edmund stared blankly, jaw slack, still in shock at the confession that seemed to have fallen so easily from his friend's lips. Rob blushed again, hot, shameful tears standing in his eyes, and looked away, wiping his cheeks fiercely:

“And if you don't feel the same, that's fine. I only said this because in light of the crash, I realized that you never know when you might be talking to someone for the last time, and – I just...”

Edmund grabbed his friend's hand, squeezing it gently:

“Listen, Rob, it's _not_ that I don't feel the same way. It just came as a bit of a surprise to me that you do. I can think of better places this could have happened, and better times, but like you said, this kind of crash makes you realize that you need to tell the people around you what you feel before it's too late. And I love you too, Rob.”

“R – really?”

“Really. I was afraid you didn't feel the same and that I'd just embarrass myself by telling you. It didn't seem like the best possible time was ever going to come, so I just kept my mouth shut for fear of sounding like a weirdo.”

Rob laughed, a teary half-hiccuping sound:

“You're a weirdo anyway, Edmund,” he muttered, rubbing his thumb across the back of his friend's hand, “but you're _my_ weirdo now. And to me, that's the most wonderful thing to come out of this awful time.”

When the nurse came back with the pain medication, it was to the two boys openly laughing and crying at once, foreheads pressed far too close together to be anything but an almost-kiss. She cleared her throat awkwardly, averting her gaze, and they both looked up in embarrassment. She finished her duties and hurried out of the room.

The medicine she'd administered was one that did indeed curb the pain, but it also left Edmund feeling very drowsy, and he dozed off shortly afterward, still gripping Rob's hand tightly. With any luck, there would be more time to talk later.


	2. Catfight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The shit hits the fan for Edward as his two love interests each discover he's been seeing the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're in a waiting room outside the ward Edmund's in.

** EDWARD **

“How could you, Ned? I thought you promised me you'd – ”

“Oh, leave him alone! He's clearly lost interest in you, and is it any wonder? I mean, look at you!”

“Look at me? Look at you! Your boyfriend's not even dead six months, and here you're trying to steal mine.”

“Don't speak about John so flippantly! He was my world, up until the overdose. Should I just not try to find any happiness again? Is that what you want from me?”

“Not when that happiness is stolen from me! You forget I lost the love of my life as well.”

“Oh yes, how could I forget? Thomas Butler, your late sweetheart, the football star who took one too many blows to the head and shot himself.”

“It's no laughing matter, Miss Woodville!”

“Neither was mine, but I heard you mocking him!”

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache:

“Please, just stop fighting!”

Eleanor whirled on him:

“And you, Edward York! You are the lowest, dirtiest, most rotten scoundrel I have ever met! How could you do something like that to me? You knew I was vulnerable!”

“Vulnerable my ass,” Elizabeth snorted in derision, “you seem to be handling yourself just fine now!”

“You shut up, you filthy little whore!”

Elizabeth's eyes widened:

“Oh, now you've gone too far!”

She flung herself at the other girl, and for a moment that felt like an eternity, all anyone in the waiting room could see of either of them was a flurry of clawing and biting and pulling hair. Edward jumped, startled, and rushed to break up the cat fight:

“Just stop it!”

The two girls broke apart, panting, teeth bared and hair wild. Elizabeth stumbled as she backed away, wincing as her right foot hit the floor. It gave out under her, sending her sprawling: Edward was at her side in an instant, breaking her fall and helping her sit down in a nearby chair.

“Someone get help! I think she hurt her ankle!”

One of the other ladies ran to find a nurse, but Eleanor just looked on in shock:

“Really? You're going to side with _her_ , Ned, over _me_?”

He shot her a glare:

“We're _done_ , Eleanor. Get. Out.”

She stormed off in tears. He gently eased off Elizabeth's shoe: her ankle had indeed already swollen to nearly twice its size, and she winced again as the shoe came off:

“Ow. Ned, I – just...”

“I'm sorry, Ellie.”

“It's fine. I just wanted to say, thank you for helping me.”

He gave her a sheepish smile:

“It's the least I could do. I got us all into this mess.”

She laughed, wincing again at a sharp pain in her ribs:

“Ah – for a mousy thing, she sure packs a punch!”

He gave a little laugh. The woman who had left to get help poked her head around the corner:

“The nurse said she'll be right along. You should probably get some ice on it in the meantime.”


	3. An Emotional Rollercoaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by the memory of amazing school lunches.

“Hi, Anne!”

The girl waved with a shy smile:

“Hi, Dickon. How are you doing today?”

Anne Neville was a gentle girl, and knew what it was to have ups and downs following a crisis in the family: her own father had endured a battle with lung cancer a few years ago, and while he was in remission and doing well now, she could remember some hard days during his illness. She could understand that her friend was having a rough time with his father's death and second-eldest brother's hospitalization.

“I'm... better than most days, to be honest.”

“That's good,” she smiled, reaching out to squeeze his hand, “things will get better, Dickon. I promise you, they will.”

They went their separate ways to class, but he couldn't think of anything besides her smile and was scolded by his teacher for daydreaming in class. He buckled down and finished his assignments, waiting and praying for the lunch bell to ring soon.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the familiar sound signaled time for a meal and recess. Two things were on Dickon's mind:

_I hope lunch is mozzarella sticks today._

and

_I hope Anne will sit at my table again._

The last week or so, he hadn't been able to find her in the cafeteria at lunchtime, and he was unsure why. They'd been sitting together since Pre-K snack-time gave way to elementary school lunch, and then she'd suddenly vanished from the table without warning or cause.

He was hungry, so he went straight to the line instead of looking for her again: as he'd hoped, it was the mozzarella breadsticks. He allowed himself a little grin: lunch today was clearly going to go well.

He searched the entire cafeteria to find Anne, but couldn't spot her. That is, until he saw an unpleasantly familiar well-dressed, tow-headed boy scooting over to make room for her to sit. He gritted his teeth, trying not to let his disappointment show:

_Edward Lancaster, you big meanie. Anne is **my** best friend and **my** crush._

Suddenly, mozzarella sticks didn't sound good anymore. He just wanted to run and hide and cry. But he was a brave boy, and brave boys didn't run and hide and cry when things didn't go their way. So he sat down all alone a few tables away, and ate his lunch in silence: once, Anne looked over at him, almost apologetically. He looked down at his food, avoiding eye contact: she'd chosen a side of the long-running political family feud, a side that wasn't his, and he wouldn't bother her anymore if she didn't want to hang out with him. So he ignored her until the end of the school day, when she came up and spoke to him, quietly and gently, as he sat on a bench by the door, waiting for his mom to come pick him up:

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings at lunchtime. It's just that Edward Lancaster fancies me, or says he does anyway, and insists I should sit with him.”

“He should get over it, then,” he said dejectedly, still fighting back tears, “'cause _he_ has a whole crowd of friends, and _I_ only have you.”

She frowned and sat down beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders:

“Look at me, Dickon: if it makes you feel less lonely, I'll sit with you instead. Besides, I don't like him, anyway. I like you.”

When she glanced around to make sure no one saw, then gave him a peck on the cheek, his heart soared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Freaking MaxStix-type cheese breadsticks, you guys. They were the best of the best in school lunches! Well, that and the Tony's Pepperoni pizza rectangles.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter will be one following Edward and the girlfriend drama.


End file.
